


scars they never asked for

by TheSlytherinWitch



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Death, Canon Divergence, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, It might just take a while to get there, Lots of angst sorry not sorry, Lucius Malfoy's A+ Parenting, M/M, Scars, Slow Burn, Soulmate AU, The Dursley's A+ Parenting, fairly canon compliant but I change the order of events a bit, it will have a happy ending I promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-05-20 10:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19375306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSlytherinWitch/pseuds/TheSlytherinWitch
Summary: In the wizarding world soulmates are people who share each others wounds without any of the pain. Harry and Draco are soulmates, which means that Draco has Harry's lightning scar. Unfortunately, when Harry tries to reach out to his soulmate he is pushed away, and it seems like Draco hates him. That would be hard enough without Voldemort to worry about... and it seems like whenever Harry's scar hurts Draco can feel it... which isn't supposed to be possible.-Harry glanced up at the teacher’s table and made eye contact with a dark haired, mean looking teacher and the second he did his scar began to burn furiously with pain. Harry grunted and clutched his head, but as he did he heard a high, surprised cry of pain. Even though he couldn’t see who had made the noise, he knew who it was.Harry shot to his feet and whipped around to search the Slytherin table. His thought was instantly confirmed. Draco’s hand was pressed to his forehead. He had a shocked expression on his face. The Slytherin looked up and his eyes locked on Harry’s. He mouthed ‘what did you do to me?’ and he looked almost… betrayed. Harry could only look helplessly back at him. He had no idea what had just happened.





	scars they never asked for

For all of their cruelty, the Dursleys never physically hurt Harry. Sure, he and Dudley got in their fair share of scuffles, and Big D and his friends liked to rough him up, but Petunia and Vernon never touched him.

Maybe that was why the bruises were so confusing.

Harry couldn’t remember a time without them. They had always just been there, coming and fading again and again through the years. He’d had his fair share of wounds too, of course. Growing up with very little support or guidance led to many accidents.

Harry had been allowed to use Dudley’s old bike when he got a new one for his birthday, but there was no one to teach him how to ride and he took several painful tumbles before he got it right. He burned himself making breakfast for the rest of the house more times than he could count and of course there was the lightning scar on his forehead. But he hardly ever got bruises.

Still, they were there.

Usually on his back, but they appeared on his ribs and arms sometimes too. They never hurt either, which was another weird part about them.

It wasn’t until he turned eleven and learned about the wizarding world that he found out about soulmates and suddenly everything made sense.

Of course, bruises were not particularly identifying. Not if his soulmate was wearing a shirt anyway. So Harry wasn’t sure he had much of a chance of finding his soulmate.

Then Hagrid said something that made his every thought come to a halt. His soulmate would share his lightning scar. Harry couldn’t help the ecstatic feeling that came over him. He would be able to see his soulmate right away!

While they travelled through Diagon Alley, Harry looked for his lightning scar on every other kid he saw, but he didn’t see the jagged bolt anywhere. 

-

It wasn’t until he was waiting those endless days between his visit with Hagrid to Diagon Alley and his trip to Platform 9 ¾ to go to Hogwarts that the reality of what the bruises must mean finally occurred to him.

When he realized that his soulmate must have been abused his entire childhood, Harry had rushed to the bathroom and dry heaved several times into the pure white empty of the toilet bowl. He ran his fingers tentatively over the years of phantom bruises across his back and shuddered, cold sweat breaking out on his face.

He didn’t know who his soulmate was, but he wanted to help them. He _needed_ to help them. Before he even made it back to his room he had made up his mind.

Harry spent the night trying not to cry. He thought back on all that had happened to him over the years and couldn’t help but feeling a sick sort of gratitude to the Dursleys for never hurting him physically. They were bullies, sure, but they weren’t _that_ bad... right?

Over the next few days a new bruise appeared on his back and Harry didn’t look at himself in the mirror when he changed shirts. He tried not to think about it either. Instead he flipped through his course books and tried to hold out for the rest of the summer. Soon he would be going to Hogwarts. Soon he would learn magic. Soon he would make new friends who weren't afraid of Dudley. Soon he would find his soulmate. 

-

When at last the day arrived Harry couldn’t wait to go to Hogwarts. He tried to forget about the bruises and replaced them instead with happy hopes about having a soulmate. He wasn’t sure if they would be a girl or a boy- he’d had crushes on both throughout school, so he had resolved to look at the foreheads of every person he met until he saw his own scar on their face.

He met the Weasley family on the way to the platform and made friends with Ron as they sat in a compartment together. Ron didn’t have his scar and neither did his older brothers or his little sister.

“How do people know when they meet their soulmates if they don’t have…” he trailed off and gestured to his forehead.

Ron shrugged. “Well some people don’t,” he explained, as if all of this were no big deal. Harry supposed it wasn’t to him, who had grown up around all of this. Like magic, apparently, soulmates were something that happened to wizards and witches only.

“And I mean,” Ron continued, talking around the chocolate frog he had just shoved into his mouth. “Some people don’t have soulmates at all, or their soulmates are muggles so obviously they don’t share injuries since the muggles don’t have soulmates like that.”

Harry nodded along, eager to learn whatever he could about this new world he had just been introduced to. All the talk about soulmates, of course, had happened after Ron told him everything he knew about Quidditch and Hogwarts and his family.

“And there are loads of people who get their name or something else tattooed on them too, so their soulmate knows who they are.”

“Tattoos are shared too?” Harry asked incredulously as he moved Scabbers out of the way to grab a small cake he had been wanting to try.

Ron looked at him like he was stupid. “Of course! I mean, it’s basically sticking a needle in you a thousand times, it’s close enough to a wound that the soulmate shares it. Anyway, are you sure you’ve got a soulmate? Not everyone does, you know.”

Harry opened his mouth to tell Ron about the bruises, then decided against it at the last minute. It seemed too… personal. He didn’t want to give it away just yet. “Yeah, I’ve gotten a few marks from cuts and stuff where I didn’t get hurt.”

His new friend hummed in agreement. “Me too. Hey, wouldn’t it be weird if your soulmate just pretended to be you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well they could, couldn’t they? No one knows anything about you except that you stopped You Know Who and that you’ve got a lightning scar. I mean, for all I know I could be talking to Harry Potter’s soulmate and not Harry Potter himself! I bet if we asked around the train for Harry Potter they’d show us some other tosser with your scar!”

Harry didn’t like this thought at all, but, he supposed, Ron might be right. He almost wanted to try it, just so he could find his soulmate faster. He’d seen a few other first years comparing old scars on their legs on the platform earlier, trying to see if they were bound to each other. None of them had a lightning scar.

“I think that’s creepy,” he decided.

“Lucky’s more like,” Ron groaned. “All the rest of us’ve got to got on are scrapes. I bet half of the kids here have a scar on their elbow.” He pushed up his sleeve to show Harry a tiny white mark. Harry looked at his own knobbly elbows and thought it wouldn’t be very easy to tell if he indeed had one too, even though he knew his soulmate couldn’t be Ron. “And what am I supposed to do- ask everyone if I can just have a quick look at their elbow? They’d think I was mental!”

Harry couldn’t help but laugh. “Probably,” he agreed. “But you said not everyone finds their soulmate, so it’s not a big deal if you don’t, right?”

“Easy for you to say,” Ron grumbled, crossing his arms. “You’re bloody Harry Potter! I bet half the wizarding world already knows who your soulmate is.”

The boy glared back at his new friend, suddenly angry. “Look, I didn’t ask for this! Do you think I wanted to have this scar? My parents died for this, it’s not something to be grateful about!”

Ron looked away, cheeks reddening. “Sorry,” he said quietly. “I guess I didn’t think about it.”

“That’s okay,” Harry replied. “I didn’t think about how frustrating it would be to never be able to find your soulmate.” He desperately wanted to change the subject. “Could you tell me about Quidditch again? I’ve forgotten what the different balls are called.”

The boy sitting across from him grinned and launched into his lengthy explanation his favorite sport all over again as the train carried them further into the countryside. It wasn’t until they were nearly to Hogwarts that the door to their compartment opened and a boy and a girl were standing there.

“Hello,” said Harry, looking over them. “Can we help you?” The girl was already wearing her school robes and she had thick black hair and a concerned look on her face.

“Yes, have either of you seen Neville’s toad? He thinks it got lost somewhere around here.” She stepped confidently into their compartment and began glancing around on the floor, looking for the animal.

Ron glanced at Harry with raised eyebrows. “Uh no, we haven't,” he told her slowly, moving his feet so she could look under his seat.

“That’s okay,” the boy said, a forlorn expression on his face. “He always turns up eventually. I’m Neville, in case you do find him and want to know who to give him back to. Neville Longbottom.”

“Ron Weasley,” the boy said, shaking Neville’s outstretched hand. Harry shook it next.

“I’m Harry… Harry Potter.” He couldn’t help but glance at the boy’s forehead, even though he was making a conscious effort to not stare at the foreheads of everyone he met. It was surprisingly difficult.

Neville’s eyes grew wide. “Wow,” he breathed, but whatever else he was planning to say was cut off by the girl getting up off her knees where she had been checking the far corners of the compartment.

“Trever’s not here,” she announced.

“Yeah, we know,” Ron muttered, shaking his head and shooting Harry a look that seemed to say ‘ _can you believe this girl?_ ’

Harry quickly tried to divert his attention, he didn’t want his new friend to sulk and complain about this the rest of the ride to Hogwarts. “What’s your name?”

The girl looked at him. “I’m Hermione Granger. You know, I bet you don’t have to introduce yourself much, do you. I’ve only known I was a witch for a few weeks now and I know all about you. I recognized you the second I saw you.”

“Yeah, it’s really weird. No one knew my name back in Surrey and now everyone knows who I am.” He tried not to let all of the bitterness into his voice. He didn’t even remember the event that had made him famous and all it had done was ruin his life.

Hermione plopped herself down next to Ron, who scooted discreetly away from her. “Well I’ve been learning about everything to do with the wizarding world myself. To make up for lost time, of course. I couldn’t imagine how terrible it would be to fall behind in my classes because I don’t know enough.”

“I think I’ll fall behind in classes for other reasons,” Neville puts in, sitting tentatively down next to Harry, who makes room for him in the mess of candy wrappers and packages left over from their candy lunch. “My family thought I might be a squib.”

“What’s a squib?” Harry asked.

Ron groaned. “I keep forgetting there are people who didn’t grow up in our world. A squib is someone from a magical family who doesn’t have magic, or can’t do much with it. It’s kind of like a disability, actually.”

“How did you find out you weren’t one, Neville?”

Neville laughed almost ruefully and tugged on the end of his sleeve. “Well I realized I had a soulmate and squibs hardly ever have one since they have less magic. And then I got my Hogwarts letter. They don’t let squibs into Hogwarts.”

“That’s terrible,” Hermione exclaimed. “That’s not fair at all! What do they do? Is there another school for them?”

“Um,” Ron said, clearly uncomfortable. “I don’t know, actually… I’m sure there’s something they do. Anyway, Hermione, do you know if you have a soulmate? Harry does, and I do, and Neville does.”

Hermione shifted in embarrassment. “I’m not sure. I’ve had a couple small scrapes and bruises in the past but those could have been from me. I’m sure I’ll find out at some point. Not everyone does anyway.”

“We know,” Ron cut in. “Everyone knows that.”

“Well I didn’t until a few days ago! I bought a very helpful book about it in Diagon Alley. It’s called _A Comprehensive View on Soulmates_ by Altea Ivvers. Have any of you read it?”

They all shook their heads. “Well you are free to borrow it, if you’d like. I’ve already learned all I can from it. Did you know there was a time in the early 1800s when people were hired to beat people up for people who suspected that they knew who their soulmates were? If the marks from the beating showed up they would know they had the right person!”

“That’s barbaric!” Harry exclaimed, horrified. “Who would do that?”

“Quite a lot of people, apparently,” the girl replied. Neville, Ron and Harry exchanged disturbed looks.

Ron gave a sort of half shrug. “I mean, I guess it’s not that surprising. People have always done drastic things to find their soulmates.” Harry was about to ask what he meant when there was a knock on their compartment door.

It was the trolly witch.

“The conductor has asked me to remind everyone not wearing their robes to change. We should be arriving shortly.”

They thanked her and Harry and Ron quickly threw on their robes. Ron’s were an inch or two too short, but no one commented on it. Harry gave him the rest of the candy to keep for later and then they were pulling into the station.

-

The castle was gorgeous and the four barely spoke as they rode in the boat up to the school because they were so struck with wonder at the beauty of it.

When they arrived on the shore Hagrid found Trevor, who Neville happily carried into the castle with them. Harry wondered what he was going to do with the toad while they were sorted since all of the other pets were still on the train with the luggage.

The first years poured into a room where they were supposed to wait to be sorted. Harry’s nerves were higher than they had been in as long as he could remember. “So what are the houses again?” he asked Ron nervously. Before the boy could answer Hermione cut in.

“Gryffindor for the brave, Hufflepuff for the hard working, Ravenclaw for the witty, and Slytherin for the ambitious. I read all about it in Hogwarts, a History. The four founders are very interesting, did you know-”

Ron simply started talking over her. “All my family’s in Gryffindor.”

“Me too,” Neville added.

“So hopefully I get into there,” Ron continued. “I’m definitely not going to be Ravenclaw. I suppose Hufflepuff wouldn’t be too bad. Anything’s long as I’m not in Slytherin.”

Harry was about to ask what exactly was so bad with Slytherin when someone behind them voiced his thoughts exactly.

“What exactly is the problem with Slytherin? Are you trying to insult my family’s house? That’s pretty rude if you ask me.” The voice was cold and it made all of them spin around in surprise.

Harry found himself nose to nose with a blonde haired, blue eyed boy. His first instinctive thought was _Merlin, he’s beautiful_. Then his eyes landed the boy’s forehead. It was hard to see because it was almost the same color as his pale skin, Harry probably wouldn’t have been able to see it all if they hadn’t ended up so close to each other, but it was definitely there.

This boy had a lightning scar.

Harry blinded in surprise. He boy in front of him saw Harry’s scar at the same moment that Harry saw his, which must have been easier since Harry’s skin was much darker. Harry’s first reaction was to offer a tentative smile, but the boy’s face flickered with shock that turned quickly to fury. 

“Well, well, well,” he said, drawing himself up and morphing his features into a sneer. “If it isn’t the famous Harry Potter.”

“That’s me. What’s your name?” Harry replied, desperately trying to figure out why his soulmate seemed so angry.

“Malfoy. Draco Malfoy.”

Draco. Okay. So his soulmate’s name was Draco. Harry’s feelings of excitement were warring with his surprise. “It’s nice to meet you, Draco,” he tried.

“And it’s not very nice to meet you.” his soulmate shot back. Harry glanced at his friends. He could feel Ron bristling beside him, clearly he knew something about Malfoy that he did not.

Harry decided that being direct might be the best method. “Do you have some sort of problem with me?” he asked. “We only just met…”

“And yet you’ve already managed to ruin my life, haven’t you?” Draco spat.

“What?” Harry exclaimed. “That doesn’t make sense! I don’t know who you are!”

Draco’s glare felt like it was setting his skin on fire. “Good. Let’s keep it that way, shall we?” He turned away from Harry and took a step towards two large boys who seemed to be waiting for him.

“Wait, Draco!” Harry called desperately, moving to go after him.

The boy turned around and shoved Harry roughly to the floor. “Stay away from me, scar face!” he shouted.

“Hey!” It was Ron, stepping forward, looking ready to fight. “Don’t touch him, Malfoy!”

Malfoy’s two friends stepped up to either side of him like bodyguards. Hermione and Neville had distanced themselves, which Harry thought was probably the smart move.

All of the other first years were watching them. Neville had covered his face with his hands and was peeking through the cracks in his fingers while Hermione was shifting from foot to foot, knuckles pressed anxiously to her mouth.

“What are you going to do about it?” Draco taunted. “Are you going to attack us? I’m sure Crabbe and Goyle would love the chance to pummel you.” Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles in agreement.

“Maybe I am!” Ron started forward and the only thing that stopped him from taking a punch to the face was Harry, who grabbed his arm and dragged him away.

“Ron, no!” he hissed in his friend’s ear.

The boy struggled against his grip. “Do you know who that is? The Malfoy’s have always hated my family! My dad says that the whole lot of them’s been in Slytherin for generations and not a single one of them have ever turned out to be more than rich scum. I’m sure Draco’s no different.”

“He’s my soulmate, he can’t be that terrible!”

“Explain what just happened then! See? You can’t. He just threatened us and yelled at you for absolutely no reason! I’m sorry if you don’t call that terrible, but I do.”

Harry wanted to protest, but his insides were churning with hurt and confusion. Why did Draco hate him already? What could Harry have possibly done to earn such cruel treatment? He stared after Draco, who looked like he was taking deep breaths.

Hermione gave him a worried look. “That really didn’t go well, did it?”

“Gee, you don’t say, Hermione,” Ron muttered. Hermione shot him a dirty look and was about to respond when Harry stepped in, rubbing the scar on his forehead self consciously.

“Stop it,” Harry told them. “Seriously, just let it go. I mean, there’s nothing we can do about it. Let’s just forget about it and focus on the sorting, alright?”

Hermione nodded. “Sorry, mate,” Ron said. Just as Harry was about to ask what exactly this sorting ceremony entailed, a woman walked into the room.

As Harry would learn, this was Professor McGonagall and the sorting would be nothing as scary as he had thought. Apparently first years only had to put on a hat and it would tell them where to go.

He would have been worried that this had all been a mistake and he wasn’t actually a wizard at all and that the hat would send him home, but what was it Ron had said? Only wizards and witches get soulmates, and he definitely had one of those.

Harry cast a quick glance at Draco, but the other boy seemed to be ignoring him. Harry’s heart twisted painfully in his chest. He wanted to talk to this boy whose soul had somehow been tied to his, but Draco clearly wanted nothing to do with him.

Maybe it’s not personal, he thought desperately. But, what else could it be?

Luckily his mind was taken off of his soulmate when the first years were led into the Great Hall. Harry’s breath was once again taken away by the beauty of Hogwarts. Was he really going to go to school here for the next seven years?

Harry looked up at the high table at the front of the room and he made eye contact with a bespectacled man sitting in the center. He recognized him instantly from a chocolate frog card Ron had given him on the train. Albus Dumbledore. The man broke his gaze first, they had only looked at each other for a moment, and then the sorting hat began to sing a song about the different houses and the ceremony had officially begun.

One by one the students were sorted. Hermione was put into Gryffindor- Ron gave a small groan at that. Neville went up and was placed into Gryffindor too, he looked relieved as he moved to sit next to Hermione. He had held Trevor in his lap the entire time.

“Malfoy, Draco,” Professor McGonagall called from the long scroll of parchment that held the names of all the first years. Harry’s heart leapt. Despite what had just happened he still hoped they could be friends and being in the same house would be a great start.

Harry was suddenly struck with a concerning thought- would everyone know they were soulmates now? But the scar was so difficult to discern on Draco’s forehead that no one seemed to have noticed.

The hat had barely touched his head when it was shouting out: “SLYTHERIN!” And his soulmate smirked as he walked to the green table to sit between Crabbe and Goyle.

The rest of the names seemed to fly by until his name was called out. The watching students went silent. He could feel every eye trained on the much more visible scar across his forehead.

Harry tried to ignore his shaking legs as he sat carefully down on the stool. He jumped as the hat’s voice began to speak into his head. “Harry Potter,” it said. “You’re a tricky one, aren’t you?”

“I… I don’t know?” Harry tried, uncertain of how to respond.

“You are difficult… very difficult… you would do well in Gryffindor,” Harry’s eyes travelled over to the scarlet table where Ron, Hermione, and Neville were waiting, apprehensive looks on their faces. “However, you are also being called towards Slytherin…” Harry now glanced towards the table on the other side of the hall where his eyes caught Draco’s frigid blue gaze.

“I think this one will depend on you,” said the hat. “I am not the decider of destiny, merely the accomplice, and I believe great things will lie in store for you down both paths. But I would advise you to be careful. Your choice will determine many things.”

Harry was confused. “Aren’t you supposed to make the choice? How am I supposed to know which is the right one to pick?”

The hat, instead of answering his question, asked him another. “What would you do for the ones you love, Harry Potter?” it asked him.

Harry tried to think of who he did love and came up empty. He had no parents, he had never loved the Dursleys, and he couldn’t say he loved his new friends, he had only just met them! “I don’t know,” he answered honestly.

“I think that is answer enough,” said the hat. “It says a lot about a person, what lengths they would go for the ones they love. I have never met a Slytherin who did not know exactly how far they would go, and while Gryffindors often know too, your hesitation speaks volumes. I think you will do well in Gryffindor.” And then the hat shouted it’s decision for the whole school to hear and Harry was left to sit next to his friends in a haze of confusion.

He scarcely heard the tremendous cheer that went up for him, but he did see the complicated look on Draco Malfoy’s face when he looked at the Slytherin table. He tried to take his mind off of it by basking in the bright smiles of Hermione, Ron, and Neville, who all seemed thrilled that he was in their house.

“Oh, I’m so happy we’re all together!” Hermione exclaimed. Ron rolled his eyes at her but turned excitedly to Harry anyways.

“Me too,” he admitted. And he was. Now that he was sitting among the crimson and gold of the Gryffindor table he was relieved and happy with the decision the hat had made. He didn’t know anyone in Slytherin anyways. No one but Draco, and he had a feeling the boy would not like to sit with him at lunch.

Ron looked thoughtful for a moment. “Say,” he said, looking at Harry and Neville. “We three could be roommates!”

“How many can be in a room?” Neville asked.

“Five,” said a pompous voice from beside them. It was Ron’s older brother, Percy. “Pleasure to meet you all. Welcome to Gryffindor.”

Ron grinned. “Wicked! We’ll just have to find two other people, I’m sure that won’t be too hard…”

“We could join you,” said another voice. The three boys turned to see who had been talking and were met with two boys sitting across from them. “I’m Seamus Finnigan. That’s Dean Thomas.”

They all shook hands and Harry couldn’t help but notice a calloused feeling on both of their hands. When he looked down he saw that the two had matching burn marks on the edge of their palms.

“Blimey!” exclaimed Ron, ogling at the marks. “Are you two…?”

“Soulmates?” Dean answered, and the two boys shot slightly awkward glances at each other. Dean rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, we met on the train.”

Hermione looked concerned as she examined the wound. She turned to Dean. “How did you burn yourself?”

“I did, actually,” Seamus said ruefully. “Put it right down on the stove. Me mum wasn’t too happy ‘bout it, I’d say, but I’m always managing to start fires."

Dean smiled. “The first thing he did when he saw my hand was to apologize.” He laughed and Seamus’s ears turned red. “It’s not like I can feel it. I didn’t even notice it until my parents pointed it out.”

“I feel bad for my soulmate,” Neville said. “I’m always getting hurt accidentally. I’ve always been pretty clumsy.”

Hermione leaned forward. “I don’t even think I have a soulmate. But I find the whole concept fascinating! Apparently there’s a condition called Mark Psychosis where people become convinced they have a soulmate when they don’t? Apparently it can be very dangerous because they become so obsessed with finding out who it is that they will attack people while they try to see if they have the same scars or tattoos or whatever and-”

Harry tuned her out as his gaze traveled again towards the Slytherin table. He couldn’t see Draco from where he was sitting, but that didn’t stop him from craning his neck to try. When he looked back Ron and Seamus looked bored out of their minds, only Neville and Dean seemed remotely interested in what Hermione was rambling on about.

Thankfully the sorting came to a close very soon after and Dumbledore said a few words that Harry didn’t understand and food filled the table. It was easily the best meal he had ever had.

He’d never had a meal like it at the Dursleys. When they cooked he always got the worst bits and though he always had enough food, it was always _just_ enough. He was never really _full_.

So, of course, he practically stuffed himself now. He would have been a little embarrassed, but most of the people around him seemed to be doing the same thing. Ron was especially enthusiastic and Harry glanced carefully at the thin frame he and his brothers all shared. He wondered if they always had enough to eat at home.

“So, Harry,” said Dean. “Do you have a soulmate?”

Harry opened and closed his mouth. “Yeah,” he admitted eventually. “But I think he hates me already.”

“Sorry, mate,” Dean said, and Seamus nodded in agreement. The topic shifted away into their classes and Harry glanced up at the teacher’s table, following the finger of Percy, who was pointing out Professor Sprout.

He made eye contact with a dark haired, mean looking teacher and the second he did his scar began to burn furiously with pain. Harry grunted and clutched his head, but as he did he heard a high, surprised cry of pain. Even though he couldn’t see who had made the noise, he knew who it was.

Ron and Neville both jumped as Harry shot to his feet between them and whipped around to search the Slytherin table. His thought was instantly confirmed. Draco’s hand was pressed to his forehead. He had a shocked expression on his face.

The Slytherin looked up and his eyes locked on Harry’s. He mouthed ‘ _what did you do to me?_ ’ and he looked almost… betrayed. Harry could only look helplessly back at him. He had no idea what had just happened.

“Hey, hey, Harry!”

Harry started and looked down. Ron was tugging on his sleeve, everyone was staring at him.

“What happened, Harry? Are you okay?” Neville worried.

Harry sunk back down into his seat. The pain in his scar was gone but he felt shaken up. “Oh, yeah… I’m okay. Hey, Percy, who’s that teacher next to Professor Quirrell?”

Percy looked up and leaned over to see around the head of a Hufflepuff student at the next table. “That’s Professor Snape,” he said importantly. “Best watch out for him, he’s had it out for Gryffindor since he was a student here.”

“How would you know that?” Hermione asked skeptically.

Ron sighed. “He doesn’t. That’s just what our mom and dad always say. But I’m sure he’s not that bad. Perce is just upset because Snape is the only teacher who doesn’t let him suck up to them.”

The indignant glare the prefect sent his brother was just what Harry needed to shake what had just happened off and he found himself enjoying the rest of the meal immensely. Dumbledore’s speech at the end of the meal put a bit of a damper on the mood when he told them about the Forbidden Forest and the out of bounds third floor corridor, but everyone was too full and content to be too bothered.

On the walk to the Gryffindor common room Fred and George came up behind them and slung their arms around Harry’s shoulders.

“Heya Harry,” they said simultaneously.

“Glad you got into Gryffindor,” said one, Harry thought it was George. “That means we’ll be seeing-”

“-a lot more of you,” continued Fred with a wide grin. “Hey, Ron, did you see the giant tarantula Lee Jordan brought as a pet? Pretty wicked!”

Ron shuddered but the twins looked ecstatic. “He says he’s going to try to get it to drop on Snape’s head!” George exclaimed. “Just sit back and watch, little bro, it’s going to be epic.” The two older boys peeled off to find some students in their own year as they finally finished their trek through the winding halls of the castle to the Gryffindor tower.

They clambered through a door hidden behind a portrait and came out into a large room. Harry felt at home instantly. It’s comfortable and safe. There was a fire roaring in a large fireplace to one side and about two dozen cushy armchairs placed almost randomly around the room.

“This is the Gryffindor common room,” Percy tells them, drawing himself up importantly. “Girls dormitories are up to the right and boys are to the left. Breakfast will be served at eight tomorrow morning. Your trunks are already in your rooms. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me. Have a good night.”

The boys left Hermione at the stairs and trooped up the stairs to their dorm. Neville crashed instantly down into his bed and was out in the next few minutes, soft snores could be heard leaking out from between the red curtains of his four poster.

Dean and Seamus sat together on Seamus’s bed and talked in quiet voices, comparing the nicks, bumps, and bruises they’d collected over the years.

Ron sighed. “That was a great feast,” he said. “I mean, my brothers said the food here was great, but Merlin’s balls that was great!”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed. He was very sleepy. He pulled off his shoes and stuffed his balled up socks into them. The thick covers felt like luxury. After a lifetime of sleeping in a cramped closet and then in a small bedroom with old, ratty sheets, this felt like the most comfortable bed in the world.

Just as he was about to drift off, he had been too tired to change out of his robes, he heard Ron’s voice. “Hey, Harry. About Malfoy…” Harry’s heart sunk and he suddenly felt his stomach turn. “It’s okay that he doesn’t like you. Just because you know who your soulmate is doesn’t mean you need them in your life. Some people go their whole lives without ever meeting their soulmate. It’ll all work out.”

Harry smiled sleepily. “Thanks Ron,” he said, but his friend was already asleep.

-

That night he had a nightmare.

In the dream Harry was down on his knees, holding his head in his hands as his scar burned like a hot wire on his forehead. There was a flash of green lightning and Voldemort’s cold laughter and suddenly Draco was standing above him, screaming terrible insults in his face.

Harry woke up in the morning drenched in sweat, Malfoy’s voice saying _I hate you, I hate you_ , over and over in his head. He rubbed his forehead and tried to slow his breathing so his heart would stop hammering in his chest.

Sunlight was spilling through the narrow tower windows and once Harry calmed down he could smell the heavenly aroma of pancakes and sausages. He got up and pulled his sweaty shirt away from his skin.

The other boys were still sleeping so Harry had no problem changing into a new set of robes. When he was putting on his new shirt he caught a glimpse of the most recent bruise on his back. The others were gone now, faded away with the passing time, so this solitary one stuck out.

His thoughts drifted to Draco, not the one in his dream, or the boy he had met before the sorting ceremony, but the version of Draco that had existed when they both felt the pain in their lightning scars the night before.

He had looked… scared.

Harry wondered what had happened when he had gotten the bruise on his back.

Ron rolled over and grunted, starting to wake up. Harry quickly pulled on his shirt and busied himself with pulling on his socks. “Morning,” Ron mumbled tiredly.

“Morning,” Harry replied.

They finished getting ready and by that time the rest of the boys were stirring. “Are you ready for our first classes?” asked Seamus, stretching. Dean smothered a yawn in the crook of his arm.

Neville tried for a smile. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“You’ll do great,” Harry told him. “We’ll all do great. I’m not sure about that Professor Snape, though. I think he glared at me during dinner last night.”

“From what I’ve heard Snape hates everyone,” Seamus said as they all got dressed and gathered their bags. “I wouldn’t worry about it yet.”

They made their way down the stairs and caught up with Hermione in the common room. “Oh, thank goodness you’re here! I was certain I’d get lost on my way down to breakfast. I can’t remember half the turns we took to get here,” she yawned into her fist, “I was so tired when were coming up last night.”

“Us too,” said Harry. “I’m sure we’ll find our way somehow.”

-

Somehow seemed to be the key word. It took them nearly half an hour to reach the Great Hall because they took about a hundred wrong turns that led them through a twisting labyrinth of dead ends.

“Phew,” Ron exclaimed when they finally made it and had taken a seat at the Gryffindor table. “We’re lucky they’re still serving food!”

“It’s not that late,” Hermione replied factually. “And besides, we’re not the only ones who got lost, are we?” As she spoke a group of Hufflepuff first years stumbled in, looking relieved at having found where they were going.

“I expect it’s going to happen a lot until we get used to the castle,” said Dean thoughtfully.

Neville groaned. “I’m going to get so lost…”

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the mail. Owls flooded into the hall by the hundreds, dropping packages and letters that fell to the tables like rain. Harry didn’t receive anything, but he didn’t really expect to.

Seamus and Neville both got packages full of clothes and other things they’d forgotten at home, and Dean got a letter from his father.

“He says congratulations on making Gryffindor,” Dean said, scratching the side of his neck and laughing. “I bet my mom had to tell him which house that was.”

Harry smiled, but was interrupted from responding by the sudden feeling that he was being watched. He turned and his eyes landed on Malfoy, who looked far too interested in his bowl of cereal. Harry had to push down the urge to kick something, choosing instead to whip his schedule out of his bag.

He pretended he was looking at the classes he was going to have that day, but really he was looking at which classes the Gryffindors would have with the Slytherins. Potions and flying… 

The rest of breakfast seemed to crawl by as the group readied themselves to attend their first class at Hogwarts- transfiguration.

From the moment they entered the classroom it was clear that Professor McGonagall was not going to be an easy teacher. For one she seemed completely okay with taking points away from her own house, and for another she was very strict. The group of friends had run into the classroom exactly seventeen seconds late and she took a point away for each of them.

They had lost a total of six house points already, and the first class had only just started.

Thankfully Hermione seemed to have actually memorized those books she was going on about, so she made back quite a few of those points by giving McGonagall the right answers to questions that made no sense whatsoever to Harry. He was learning a lot, though.

McGonagall had them try to change matches into needles after giving them a spell and telling them how to wave their wands the ‘right way’ which seemed ridiculous to Harry until he looked over to see Neville holding his backwards and Ron swinging it around aggressively.

By the end of the class Seamus had lit his match on fire five times and Harry’s match didn’t look remotely like a needle. It did seem a little thinner, he supposed, as he poked it with the tip of his wand.

Hermione got a smile from the professor for her needle, which actually looked like a needle now, and Dean got a nod for turning his match entirely silver. They rest of them got thin lips and were shown quickly out the door with a large pile of homework.

“Alright, that wasn’t too bad,” Harry said. “What class do we have next?”

“Wasn’t too bad?” Hermione parroted, looking scandalized. “That was loads easier than I had expected! I mean, that was really basic magic! I had thought she was going to start us off with something much more challenging than that.”

The rest of them looked at her incredulously, Ron especially, but Dean was talking before they could remind her that she was the only one who had actually managed to complete the assignment. “The next class is potions.”

“Oh no,” Neville groaned.

“Maybe it won’t be so terrible?” Seamus tried. The rest of them shook their heads.

He was wrong, of course. It was just as terrible as they had thought it would be. Professor Snape really did seem to have it out for the Gryffindors. While they were taking attendance he singled Harry out at once.

“Harry Potter,” he said, and his dark eyes found Harry’s. He replied that he was there, but Snape didn’t move on to the next person. Instead he kept his eyes on him.

“I do hope you’re not expecting to fly easily through your time at Hogwarts, Mr. Potter, because I assure you that I will not let your fame stop you from completing your assignments just like everyone else.”

Draco was quelling his laughter in his fist and Harry glanced at him, momentarily distracted. He looked back up at Snape, but it was too late, the professor had seen. “No, Sir,” he said quickly.

Snape turned slowly to see when he had been looking at and Malfoy stopped laughing at once, staring up at the teacher with his mouth tightly closed.

Snape looked as though he were going to dismiss it all as Harry being upset that Draco was laughing at him when he saw the lightning scar. The man all but recoiled and Draco shrunk back away from him in his seat, ducking his head so the scar was less visible.

“Well, Potter,” Snape sneered nastily, he looked a bit shaken. “Since you’ve clearly just been trying to cheat off of Mr. Malfoy’s notes, five points from Gryffindor.”

The jaws of everyone in the room fell to the floor- the Slytherins’ in pure delight and the Gryffindors’ in shock. They were in the middle of attendance, there hadn’t been anything to take notes on yet!

Still, Harry was willing to take the hit if it meant that Snape’s attention was no longer on him.

He cast a guilty look at Draco. He hadn’t meant to make Snape realize they were soulmates. He knew the boy wanted nothing to do with him and it wasn’t his fault they were connected, after all. Draco had looked completely humiliated and even though that had made Harry feel terrible about himself, he wanted to apologize.

But when the blonde met his eyes they were full of icy blue fury.

Oh, right. Of course Draco wouldn’t want an apology. He didn’t even want to talk to Harry. He sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead.

The rest of the class wasn’t any better.

Snape had them making their first potions and he was playing very obvious favorites, taking points off of Gryffindor for the smallest things. Neville seemed to be terrified of the man and when the professor circled around the room near him he got so scared he dropped the wrong ingredient into his potion, causing a terrible reaction that caused boils to break out all over his hand where it had splashed onto his skin.

Hermione, who had been his partner, had seen this coming and been fast enough to jump out of the way.

“Ms. Granger, escort Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing before his condition… worsens,” Snape muttered, looking darkly at the mess on the floor.

“Oh, but Professor Snape, I really don’t want to miss the rest of the lesson and, also, uh, I don’t just want to leave our potion station, you know? I can’t leave it unattended-”

Snape’s lip curled. “Did I not make myself clear, Ms. Granger? Or were you too narrow minded to listen to a word I sai-”

“I’ll take him!” It was Seamus. His potions partner, Dean, shot him a betrayed look that was ignored. “I’ll probably just end up blowing this up anyway…” He trailed off under the glare of Professor Snape.

There was a long pause. Then Snape nodded curtly. “Very well, get on with it Mr. Finnigan.” The boy practically ran from the room, dragging Neville behind him by his uninjured hand. Hermione let out an audible breath of relief.

“ _What is it with her and school?_ ” hissed Ron in Harry’s ear, quiet enough so that neither Hermione nor Snape could hear them. “ _She just turned down the chance to get out of here!_ ”

Harry focused on measuring out some terrible smelling plant that they were supposed to be adding to their definitely-not-the-right-color potion. “ _I was going to offer to go myself,_ ” he whispered back once the plant had splashed into their boiling cauldron. “ _But I don’t think Snape would have liked that._ ”

“ _Definitely not. He’s got it out for you, mate._ ”

By the time class ended Harry and Ron’s potion seemed decent enough, which was good enough for them. Hermione had started working with Dean, since both of their partners had left, so of course their potion was excellent.

Harry had been watching Draco’s potion too, he was working with Goyle, but he was doing all of the work. Harry was ninety percent sure that Goyle hadn’t laid a finger on a single one of the ingredients except under strict instruction from Draco, who seemed to be ordering him around.

Still, whatever he was telling him to do must have worked. Or maybe Snape was just being bias when he told the Slytherin boys that it was the best first potion attempt he had ever seen and awarded them ten points. Harry wondered if he imagined the triumphant smirk Draco sent him over Snape’s shoulder.

-

Ron certainly thought the potions master was being bias, and complained about the entire walk to lunch.

“I mean, come on! Hermione’s memorized the whole bloody book, and Dean’s so smart it’s embarrassing! There’s no _way_ Malfoy could have beaten them!”

Both Dean and Hermione blushed, but they were quick to brush it off. “Our potion really wasn’t that great, Ron,” Hermione said. “I mean, I think we only mixed it sixteen times clockwise instead of seventeen the third time we mixed it…”

Ron turned and whispered furiously to Harry. “ _We were supposed to_ count _how many times we stirred it?_ ”

“Yeah, and anyway,” added Dean. “We only became partners halfway through and we basically had to start over so we were at a bit of a disadvantage. I’m sure we’ll do better next time.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” said Seamus, who had come up behind them and made them all jump. “Not if you’re going to keep working with me. If I hadn’t left the room right then the cauldron was going to go ka-boom. Mark my words.”

“Well at least no one aside from me got hurt today.” Neville sat down with them, his hand back to its pre-boils state.

Hermione gave him a concerned look. “Are you all better, Neville? It doesn’t still hurt, does it?”

The boy shook his head. “No, Madam Pomfrey had it fixed in about twenty minutes. It’s a good thing our robes have sleeves, really. It would have been much worse if it had gone up my whole arm.” The others nodded for a second or two until Ron’s face went slack and he looked accusingly at Seamus and Neville.

“Wait a minute! We had about an hour left in that class! What, did you just decide to skip the rest?” Now the rest of them were looking at the two boys.

“Er…” Seamus tried.

Hermione looked horrified. “You’re joking… you skipped class? How are you going to get good marks on your exams?”

Ron scoffed around a piece of bread he’d stuffed in his mouth. “I’m a bit more concerned about the fact that they abandoned us with Snape myself, thanks. How could you?”

“Well, not to insult you or anything,” Seamus said with a laugh, “but it wasn’t a very difficult choice. I mean, can you really say that you would have gone back in there? That’s just hogwash.”

“I’m just glad it didn’t happen to you,” Dean mused to Seamus, examining his own hand. “I’m sure those would have looked nasty.”

Neville looked horrified. “Oh Merlin, my soulmate! Oh no! I feel so bad, I hope they didn’t look at their hand for those twenty minutes… Maybe Madam Pomfrey cured it before they saw…”

“Look at their hand?” Harry asked. “So they wouldn’t have felt it? Do people ever feel pain when their soulmate gets hurt?” He assumed the answer would be yes, considering what had happened last night with his and Draco’s scars, so he was surprised when his friends laughed.

Ron shook his head. “Of course not!”

“That would be terrible,” Dean agreed, running a finger over the slowly healing burn on his hand.

“It’s not possible, Harry,” added Hermione. _But it happened,_ Harry wanted to say. Yet, something held him back again from sharing more about his connection with Draco.

Besides, his friends would say it was a coincidence or something anyway. Ron would probably say that Draco had been in pain because Crabbe had accidentally stepped on his foot or something. But Harry knew what had happened. Draco had felt what he had. He was sure of it.

“Alright, so do we have any other classes today?” Seamus asked.

“Just one. I think they’re easing us into it,” Ron replied. “Don’t want us to be overwhelmed too quickly.”

Dean pulled out his schedule. “Charms. That should be cool.”

Hermione was practically squirming with excitement. “Definitely! I was talking to a third year who said that Flitwick was an _amazing_ professor.”

“I think anyone’s better than Snape,” Ron muttered.

Seamus snorted. “You can say that again. Blimey, I don’t know how we’re going to last the year with him.”

“One year? We’ll be stuck with him for seven,” Ron reminded him and Seamus hit his head against the table, narrowly avoiding Dean’s plate of food. Neville looked like he was about to cry.

Harry, not wanting to see his friends moping, tried to think of something to lighten the mood, but all he could think about was Draco’s expression when Snape realized they were soulmates, and the way he had shrank away from him. It didn’t improve his mood at all.

Luckily, he was spared having to come up with something happy by the arrival of Fred and George.

“Hiya!” they said, plopping themselves down beside the first years.

Fred looked at the friends’ downcast faces and frowned. “Come on now, it’s your first day! What’s gotten you upset already?” When they told the twins about Snape the boys smiled.

“Oh, Obsessor Grape’s nothing to worry about,” said George. “We’ve got a plan for him, you’ll see.”

Hermione’s eyebrows crinkled. “Did you just call Professor Snape… _Obsessor Grape?_ ”

“Why yes, my dear Hermione, we did,” Fred responded, patting her on the head. All the boys broke into wide grins. “And honestly, what’s the matter with all of you? Letting Grape get you down like that! Honestly, have a little fun!”

“I think your version of fun would get a letter sent home to mum and dad,” said Ron, a little disapprovingly. “Do you know how many times I had to hear them screaming about your pranks getting you in trouble? I honestly feel a little bad that Ginny’s all alone with them now…”

The twins rolled their eyes and George shook his head. “Come off it, Ron. All we’ve ever done was practical jokes, that’s nothing to get upset about. And be honest- the _real_ bad brother was Charlie.”

Fred hummed in agreement. “I mean, who manages to escape out the window of the Hogwarts express and ride a dragon to school? They went mental about that one… I can only hope that we will be that epic one day, George.”

“It’s probably not going to happen though,” George replied. “But that doesn’t mean we’ll stop trying. So don’t worry about the Obsessor Grape. Just trust us.”

They were up and gone before the first years had time to process what they had said, both of them talked rather fast. “Hang on,” Seamus demanded to Ron. “Your brother flew a _dragon_ to Hogwarts?”

Ron’s ears turned red. “Uh, yeah. I have a lot to live up to…”

“I’d say,” Dean agreed. “Man, I’d like to meet your brother!” Harry was still trying to wrap his head around the concept of dragons actually existing. He’d known they had, of course. Mr. Olivander had explained that dragon heartstrings were used in wands and he’d thought he’d seen a flash of fire while travelling through Gringotts, but it was odd hearing them talked about like it was a normal part of life.

“Hey, do you think we should leave for charms now?” Neville asked.

Hermione frowned. “I’m all for getting to class early, but we’ve got another ten minutes of lunch, Neville.”

“Well yeah, but do any of you know where the charms room is?” There was an awkward silence and then everyone was clambering desperately to their feet and slinging their bags over their shoulders as they tripped over themselves to leave.

- 

Even though they left ten minutes early, they still arrived five minutes late to class.

The only reason they managed to arrive at all, panting and clutching their chests, was because they had met up with two other first years on the way, who happened to know where the classroom was.

The students were Parvati and Padma Patil, twins who had been sorted into different houses. Parvati was a Gryffindor, apparently she was in the same dorm room as Hermione, and the two girls looked happy to see each other. Padma was in Ravenclaw, the other house that the Gryffindors would be having charms class with.

“Are you… lost?” Padma had asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow at the group. Harry would have thought she was being rude given her tone had they not been standing in a hallway intersection, turning slowly in circles and asking which direction they had come from.

“ _No!_ ” Hermione had exclaimed stubbornly at the same time as Ron had said; “ _Very!_ ” The two glared at each other as Harry and Neville had stepped in to explain the situation and Dean and Seamus argued over which floor the classroom was on.

“Oh that’s perfect,” Parvati’d replied excitedly. “We’re going to the same place. You all can just follow us. I’m Parvati Patil, by the way, and this is my sister Padma.”

Padma did not seem as thrilled about playing tour guide as her sister, it was clear that she was the less enthusiastic of the twins, although this was not saying much when compared to her sister’s rather peppy nature.

“What did you think of potions, Parvati?” Hermione asked the girl as they made their way through the halls.

Parvati scouled. “I think Snape’s terrible. How can he be so mean?”

Padma rolled her eyes. “Not everyone’s as nice as you are, Parvati. I haven’t had Snape yet, but I’m not looking forward to it.”

“I know not everyone’s nice, but Snape is the worst person I’ve ever met! Except maybe Draco Malfoy… did you see the way he was laughing when Snape was picking on you, Harry?”

Harry’s stomach twisted but he wasn’t sure if it was out of hurt that his Draco had done that, or anger at Parvati for calling his soulmate a terrible person, even if the boy might have deserved it. “I mean, I think all the Slytherins thought it was funny,” he tried.

Padma narrowed her eyes. “So he is your soulmate.”

“Padma!” Parvati squeaked, linking her arm through her twin’s and pulling. Padma shook her head at her sister, but didn’t shake her off.

“What- How did you know that?” Harry asked quickly.

“Well everyone’s been talking about it… you are famous, you know. And one of the Slytherin’s said they saw the whole conversation between you and Draco while we were waiting to be sorted, everyone else only heard parts of it cause we were all so nervous, and only a couple people have gotten very close to Malfoy to be able to see it, but apparently he’s got your scar.”

Harry supposed he should have seen this coming, but it hadn’t occurred to him that there would be rumors about who people’s soulmates were. For a moment he wished he didn’t have a very identifying mark that his soulmate shared so it would be hard for anyone to know, but then he felt bad about wanting to hide that he had Draco as a soulmate.

“Yeah,” he said finally. “He is my soulmate.” He desperately wanted to turn their attention away from him.

Parvati looked embarrassed. “Oh, I’m sorry I said that, then. About him being bad. I didn’t know he was your soulmate.”

“It’s fine,” Harry muttered. “I know he’s not very nice.”

“You can say that again,” Ron and Seamus put in at the same time. Dean hit them both in the back of the head and they let out matching ‘ _ow!_ ’s.

According to Padma and Parvati they were now quite close to the classroom. Harry wanted to know something before they arrived. “Do either of you have a soulmate? Or… do you know if you have one, I mean.”

Even though soulmates was a pretty common subject, Parvati looked suddenly uncomfortable. Padma’s gaze darkened. “I have one,” Parvati said slowly, glancing quickly at her sister and then away. “Padma doesn’t…”

“You can’t know you don’t have a soulmate though,” said Neville quickly. “I didn’t until two years ago! Maybe your soulmate just doesn’t get hurt easily. You never know, right?”

“I know,” Padma said bluntly, avoiding their gazes and finally shaking off her sister’s hand. Before anyone could think of anything to say to her, she stopped in the hallway. “We’re here.”

The charms classroom was big and airy with tall, wide windows that were closed to the fresh fall air and rows of desks. The Gryffindors and Ravenclaw took up a whole row by themselves and their professor, Flitwick, didn’t even seem to care that they had come in late. The reason for that was quickly apparent when almost half the class found their way into the room over the next ten minutes.

Apparently first years getting lost was a commonly accepted occurrence at Hogwarts. Harry was grateful the potions room had been so easy to find- if McGonagall had taken a point each away from them for their tardiness, Snape would have taken fifty. He liked Flitwick instantly when the man didn’t take anything at all.

Their lesson was all outlining basics and practicing wand motions. It was clear pretty quickly what kind of spell caster each person was.

Hermione and Dean had similar out-of-the-textbook type of waving where they tried to be sure that their every flick was exactly how it had been stated in the book, overlooking that a lot of spells relied on feeling rather than doing it perfectly.

Padma, Parvati and Seamus’s movements all seemed a bit more natural, but they got a few things wrong too.

Neville, Ron, and Harry fell into the final category of improvisation where they awkwardly tried to understand what the book was telling them to do and then abandoned it altogether in favor of copying the movements of their friends and trying to work it out themselves.

Harry wasn’t sure which way was the right way, but Flitwick didn’t seem too concerned with any of them so maybe they were all good.

Of course, that was until Ron accidentally jabbed Parvati in the face, Seamus lit the desk on fire, and Hermione started having a bit of a breakdown because she couldn’t figure out how the book wanted her to twirl and flick her wand at the same time.

Apparently there were pros and cons to each method.

Despite their struggles, everyone seemed to have gotten the basics by the end of class and they all left content, if not a little frazzled. “That wasn’t too hard,” Parvati said. She sounded relieved. “I’m glad we’re still in some of the same classes, Pad.”

“Yeah, me too,” Padma replied, not meeting her sister’s eyes. 

“We were homeschooled before this, so we’ve never really been apart before,” the Gryffindor twin explained with an uncomfortable sort of laugh. “It’s very… new.”

Ron shook his head. “I’d be over the moon about it if I were you. I couldn’t imagine spending that much time with my siblings.” He shuddered and ducked as Dean once again tried to hit him in the back of the head. “Hey!”

“I never had any siblings,” Neville said suddenly. “But I’ve always wanted some. I imagine it must be difficult to be separated like that.” The twins looked surprised, but after a moment they nodded.

Padma reached out and took her sister’s hand. “It is, but we’ve faced worse. We’ll be fine.” Parvati sent her a bright smile. “Anyways, I think we’ll be heading off now. I need to show Parvati the Ravenclaw common room… unless the six of you need help finding your way to wherever you’re going.”

“We weren’t lost!” Hermione insisted again.

“Yes we bloody well were!” Ron shouted and the Patil twins laughed as the walked away down the hall.

“I think we’re going to head off too,” Dean said. Seamus nodded. “I want to finish unpacking my truck.”

Neville smiled nervously. “Could I come too? I think Trevor got away again and I want to make sure he’s not still there.”

“Of course, mate. We’ll even help you look once we’re through,” Seamus offered and they started in the direction of the Gryffindor tower. Harry was pretty sure they were going to get lost, since he was about seventy five percent certain that the tower was in the other direction, but he figured they’d find it eventually.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were now alone. “What now?” asked Ron, looking around. “I don’t even know where we are and there are about five hours until dinner… what do they expect us to do? What are the other students doing?”

“No idea,” admitted Harry.

Hermione pointed down a hallway where a set of stairs marked its end and, in a voice full of implication said; “I think the _library’s_ in that direction, we could always go take a look-” The boys responded at once with a cacophony of ‘no’, ‘absolutely not’, ‘are you _mental_? In our free time?’ and Hermione quickly dropped the idea. “Well what do you suggest we do instead, then?”

 _We could go try to talk to Malfoy_ , Harry’s mind suggested. He pushed the thought away. “How about we visit Hagrid?” This was apparently an acceptable idea, because the three were trooping through the castle towards the grounds. “Maybe I could convince him to tell me what was in the package from Gringotts he picked up for Dumbledore while we were there.”

“What package?” asked Hermione.

Harry explained how Hagrid had come to collect him from the Dursleys and brought him to Diagon Alley and how they had gone to Gringotts together. “We went to my vault first to get money so I could buy my things.” Both Hermione and Ron avoided his eyes and he realized what he had said had made them uncomfortable, Ron because he likely didn’t have much in his vault and Hermione because she had, of course, gone with her parents to Diagon Alley. Harry kept talking quickly. “But after that we made another stop. Hagrid said he had to collect a package for Dumbledore, and that it was very secret.”

Ron shrugged. “It could’ve been anything,” he said, but Hermione looked at Harry thoughtfully.

“What did the package look like? How big was it?”

Harry took a second to think about it. “Pretty small. About… this size?” He made a small box with his hands about the size of a small grapefruit. “He said something about Hogwarts being the safest place to hide something?”

“Well that makes sense,” Ron said. “I mean, Dumbledore’s headmaster, isn’t he? The man’s a bit mental, but he’s insanely powerful too.”

Hermione frowned. “He is, but Gringotts is really safe too… there’s really no reason he would think it was safer here… unless he knew someone was going to try to get it. Say, remember that article in the daily profit this morning?” Harry and Ron shook their heads. “Honestly, I don’t understand the two of you. Do you read anything? How are you going to know anything if we get a quiz on current events?”

Ron looked dumbfounded. “I think that only happens in muggle school, Hermione,” Harry told her.

“Whatever, the point is there was an article in it this morning that was talking about someone breaking into a vault and getting away with it! That’s hardly ever happened in the hundreds of years since the bank opened! The last time was in 1536 when a witch was trying to get into one of her husband’s secret vaults so she could see if she was in his will- or, that’s what I read anyway.”

“Someone stealing something from Gringotts is interesting, Hermione, really,” Harry began. Ron cast him a skeptical look and Harry threw him a glare. “But what does that have to do with the package?”

They were walking down a staircase that started to move underneath them, travelling to another exit point as they made their way to the bottom. They seemed to be on the first floor now. They just had to go a few more halls over and they would be at the entrance hall.

“Well that’s just the thing,” Hermione said excitedly. “ _They didn’t steal anything!_ The vault was _already empty_!”

Harry and Ron exchanged surprised looks. “And you think whatever Hagrid got when we were at the vault was the thing they were trying to steal?”

“I mean, it could be, couldn’t it?” Harry couldn’t argue with that and neither, it seemed, could Ron. Now they had even more reason to talk to Hagrid. Unfortunately, they got a bit sidetracked.

As they rounded the corner into the final hallway the trio ran straight into Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

“Draco,” Harry said quickly as the boy’s face, which had been a smile a moment before, turned cagey. “I was hoping we could talk.”

“I thought I told you to stay away from me,” Draco muttered, trying to brush past Harry.

Harry moved in front of him, blocking the Slytherin’s way. “We’re _soulmates_ ,” he stressed. “Please, can we at least talk? I don’t even know why you don’t like me!” Draco stopped right in front of him and narrowed his blue eyes.

“Get out of my way, Potter. I can’t even look at you.” His voice was full of such unbridled disdain that Harry took an involuntary step back and before he knew it Draco was moving off down the hall past him, Crabbe and Goyle in tow.

Harry spun around and his hands curled into fists. “Malfoy!” The boy didn’t turned. “Malfoy!” It wasn’t working. Harry could feel his anger rising. He couldn’t just ignore him! It wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right. “Draco!”

Draco stopped, but he didn’t turn around. “What, Potter?”

He had actually stopped… Harry had no idea where to go from there, he hadn’t actually expected the boy to listen to him. He wanted to say everything that he was thinking- that he just wanted to talk, that the way Draco was treating him was hurting him, that he didn’t know what he had done wrong. “I’m sorry,” he said instead.

Draco went perfectly still. Crabbe and Goyle looked between their leader and the Gryffindors. Ron and Hermione were both fidgeting as though they wanted to step in but knew it wasn’t their place.

“What did you say?” the Slytherin asked, a little too quietly.

“I said I’m sorry. I don’t know what you think I did to you, but I’m sorry if I hurt you somehow. And I’m sorry if you hate me and if you wanted a different soulmate instead… And I’m sorry for-” He almost said he was sorry for not being able to do anything about the bruises, but he stopped himself just in time. “I’m just sorry, is all.”

For a long moment they all just stood there, frozen. Harry felt as though he and Draco were the only ones there. He watched his soulmate’s back, waiting for him to say something, anything.

Finally he looked over his shoulder and met Harry’s eyes. “Then be sorry,” he said deliberately. “But be sorry away from me. You’re right, I don’t want you as a soulmate! You happen to be one of the most dim witted people I have ever met because clearly you are incapable of telling when someone wants nothing to do with you. And you know, my life would have been better without a soulmate at all. Clearly we were put together by mistake.” He paused, then gave him an almost taunting look. “There, was that enough talking for you?”

Harry didn’t see them leave because of the tears that had sprang into his eyes. He felt like he’d been punched in the stomach.

“Harry, I’m so sorry, that was terrible,” Hermione worried once they were gone, putting a hand on his arm. Ron scrunched his shoulders up to his ears.

“Sorry, mate. But look, Malfoy’s a git. You should just forget about him. Come on, let’s go see Hagrid- he’ll have something to cheer you up.” Harry allowed himself to be led out of the castle and down the stairs to the grounds.

-

The fresh air did help him feel better. The way to Hagrid’s hut brought them right up to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, from which they could hear the sounds of birds and creatures that muggles believed were myths. It was very relaxing and the trees and plants smelled amazing. Harry could understand why Hagrid would love living all the way out here so much.

They knocked on the door to the cabin and there was a tremendous barking from inside. Harry jumped instinctively, his mind jumping to the dog his Aunt Marge owned before remembered the Ripper was about a foot tall and incapable of making barks this loud. Indeed, the dog that bounded out of the opened door was a Great Dane.

“Harry!” Hagrid cried. “How are yah? I’m mighty pleased to see ya! Come in, come in. Who are yer friends?”

Ron and Hermione introduced themselves and Hagrid grimaced a little when he realized that Ron was related to the Weasley twins. “Those two are a bit ter a menace in my opinion, no offence o’ course, but they’ve caused quite a few problems that I’ve had ter clean up. Yer brothers Bill and Charlie, though, I quite liked them. Very good with animals they were. I don’ really know Percy… I don’ believe we’ve been properly introduced… Well anyways, it’s always nice ter meet a Weasley.”

The redhead blushed and nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“What do you do here, Hagrid?” Hermione asked, glancing around the house. “Are you a teacher?”

Hagrid said laughed. “No, I’m the groundskeeper here at Hogwarts. Have been ever since Professor Kettleburn left the job ter become the Care of Magical Creatures teacher up at the school. Can’t say I wouldn’t like ter be a teacher, though. But anyways, ‘nough about me, how was yer first day?”

Harry explained all about his situation with Draco and their disastrous first potions class with Snape.

“Ah, well,” Hagrid said. “Snape’s tough all right, but he’s a righ’ impressive teacher he is. Yup, you’ll never hear me say tha’ man wasn’ the most talented potions master Hogwarts has ever seen.”

Ron and Harry exchanged skeptical looks. “Right…” Ron said slowly. “Yeah, I’m sure he’s a really sweet guy once you get to know him a bit.”

Hermione crossed her arms. “I know he was mean to Harry in class, Ron, but you have to admit that he was good with potions. He knew if each potion would work just by looking at them- and that’s not too easy. Besides, I know Professor Dumbledore wouldn’t hire someone who didn't know what they were doing.”

“I’m not so sure about that, Hermione,” Harry muttered, thinking back to Professor Quirrell, who had been a nervous wreck the day Harry had met him in Diagon Alley. “Anyway, Hagrid, I wanted to ask you- did you hear about the break in at Gringotts?”

Hagrid looked instantly alert. “What? How did you three hear ‘bout that?”

The trio frowned. “It was in the Daily Prophet, Hagrid,” Hermione told him. “It said that whoever did it was probably some sort of dark wizard because of how hard it would have been to pull off. It’s quite impressive, actually. I overheard some of the older students discussing it at dinner last night and there were about fifty wards to get through let alone all the goblins-”

“Yeah, we get it, thanks, Hermione,” Ron said quickly, cutting the girl off.

“Well I don’ see what that has ter do with me,” Hagrid said evasively. This was, of course, the most suspicious response he could have given considering all they had done was ask if he’d heard about it.

Harry shrugged. “I mean, we did get something very important out of Gringotts that day when we went. I just wanted to be sure that the vault wasn’t _that_ one.”

“O’ course it wasn’t! You three’ve got yer wires crossed! No one knew where Dumbledore was keepin’ it ‘cept me an’ the professors! The theif pro’ly went ter the wrong vault by accident!” Ron raised an eyebrow and even Hermione’s mouth opened slightly in surprise, but Harry was grinning triumphantly. Hagrid clearly realized he’d said too much. “You three forget I said anything! Tha’s none of yer business, that is. Nothin’ fer you ter be meddling in.”

The three left in a much better mood than they had arrived in, even if.

“Did you hear what he said?” Harry demanded. “He admitted it was the same vault! But it is odd that it was stolen if no one but the teachers knew it was there.”

“What are you saying?” Hermione asked. “Harry, you couldn’t possibly think it was a teacher…”

Ron shook his head. “Don’t be daft, Hermione. I mean, _I’m_ not saying it wasn’t a teacher, but it happened over the summer, right? So it’s possible that someone from their families knew and it was them or someone they told. It’s also possible one of the teachers told someone else. A friend, even. We don’t really know how many people have been told.”

Hermione actually looked impressed. “I… I hadn’t thought of that. Of course, that means the amount of people who potentially knew was very large. It’s not going to be easy to find out who it was.”

“Hang on, you’re not seriously going to try to figure out who snuck into Gringotts, are you? Hermione, that’s mental.”

“Is it?” the girl demanded, eyes flashing. “Well then, Ronald, I hope you’re ready to stand back while me and Harry solve it then. You do agree with me, right Harry? You want to know what was so important about that package and who was smart enough to get it, right?”

Harry wasn’t entirely sure those were exactly the things that were motivating him, but he couldn’t deny that he wanted to get to the bottom of what had been in that package too. “Yeah, I do. Sorry, Ron.” The boy grumbled all the way back to the cool entrance hall but Harry knew he would help them.

-

Harry was up early the next day.

He’d had a good nights sleep in what felt like the first time in forever. He’d always been forced to wake up early, so he supposed it was a habit at this point, but now he was waking up on his on and not to his Aunt Petunia shrieking for him to get up and stop being so lazy.

Hedwig was fast asleep in her cage as he got dressed, the rising sun turning her white feathers to colors of rose and gold. Harry didn’t have anywhere to go, but he made his way to the common room anyway. Sitting and staring at the glowing embers that were all that remained of the last nights fire and laying back in a cushy armchair felt like the manifestation of bliss and he lost count of the minutes even as the cool air from the open windows washed over him like a fog.

Still, even comfort grows boring after a while, and Harry found himself itching to do something. He decided on homework. While this may not have been the most fun activity, it was certainly necessary. All the teachers he’d had so far had assigned homework and he knew the ones he would be having for the first time that day would be no different. He needed to stay on top of it.

He was more right than he could have guessed.

- 

The rest of his friends had come stumbling into the common room about an hour later and they all headed down to breakfast. Neville received a remembrall from his grandmother, which Draco had seemed particularly interested in, and then they were off to their classes. 

Defense Against the Dark Arts was first. Harry enjoyed that class immensely, even if Quirrell had been shaking in his robes the whole time. They were assigned a paper on trolls, which Professor Quirrell seemed to be focused on.

Next they made their way to Herbology with Professor Sprout, where they learned about cave dwelling plants. Harry and Ron found this part to be extremely tedious, but Neville seemed enthralled by it and even the less enthusiastic students’ ears perked up when they learned that they would be starting a unit on which plants could be used in potions involving soulmates in a few months.

Harry asked Hermione, who he thought would be the most likely to know, what potions were connected to soulmates but she said she had no idea and he spent the rest of class thinking about it.

After breaking for lunch it was finally time for their last class of the day, and the one Harry, and many others, had most been looking forward to.

Flying lessons.

Not everyone was excited, of course. Hermione and Neville in particular seemed to be dreading their feet leaving the ground. “I just know I’m going to forget a step and crash,” Neville moaned.

“Maybe you’d better bring your remembrall, just in case,” Seamus suggested.

“I don’t think that’s going to be much of a help.” It was Hermione, pulling on the end of one of her curls nervously. “I’ve read a lot about quidditch and it really has nothing to do with learning or memorization at all- it’s built on natural talent and your own will. I think I’m more of a book learner myself…”

“You don’t say,” Ron muttered, casting a meaningful glance at Hermione’s bag that was bulging almost to ripping with heavy books that had nothing to do with their classes and everything to do with the girl’s bibliophilic tendencies.

Hermione tried to scowl at him but she was too anxious to put a lot of enthusiasm into it. Dean sighed. “You’re going to be fine, Hermione,” he said.

“I do hope so.”

“You are,” Harry affirmed, patting her on the shoulder as the group stood up. “You’re easily the most brilliant witch in our year, I’m sure you can handle a broomstick. You too, Neville. Both of you are going to do great.”

Filled with a little more confidence now than they had before, the group began their march towards the Quidditch pitch. As they walked they were joined by Parvati Patil, who gave them all hesitant smiles. She looked a little unsure of herself without Padma at her side.

“Hello,” she said. “Padma told me it was nothing to worry about- the Ravenclaws had their class yesterday-, but I’ll admit I’m a bit nervous for this lesson.” Immediately she was surrounded by Hermione and Neville and the three of them began discussing their most embarrassing fantasies about what could go wrong while trying to ride a broom for the first time.

It was then that Harry saw the Quidditch pitch, and who they would be having flying classes with… Draco Malfoy was standing over a broom flanked by his friends Crabbe and Goyle. When he saw Harry his lips bent into a smirk.

“Have you ever ridden a broom before, Potter?” he called.

Harry answered truthfully. “No, I haven’t.” He wasn’t sure he understood what Malfoy was getting at, but he was glad Malfoy was at least talking to him. “But I’m sure half the kids here haven’t either.”

“Oh, I’ll bet most of them haven’t,” the boy returned, raking his eyes judgmentally over Harry’s friends. The group bristled. “But, being as famous as you are I’d assumed you had… _I’ve_ been riding a broom since I was six.”

Harry’s eyes narrowed. “Shut it, Malfoy. You know I didn’t grow up in your world.” He knew Harry had been left without parents, without magic, without any friends or family at all save the Dursleys for ten years.

A shrill whistle cut through the air, making the assembled students jump.

Harry cast one last glare at Malfoy, blood boiling, then lined up with the rest of the Gryffindor students across from the Slytherins. They were each standing beside a broom. “Good morning, class.” It was Madam Hooch, amber eyes flickering over each of them and bringing them all into silent attention.

“Today you will have your first lesson in flight. Now I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that flying is not for everyone and certainly not for the faint of heart… or stomach. Still I can assure you that you are in very capable hands and I will do my very best to be sure that each one of you remains unharmed.

“That being said I will require you to follow certain rules to ensure that I can keep you safe to the best of my ability. Rule number one: you are not to fly even an inch above the ground when I am not overseeing you. Rule number two: you are not allowed to touch one another while in the air. If I see any pushing or shoving we are going to have a serious problem. Rule number three: while we are in this class you are to do exactly as I say without question because it will keep you from injury. Is that clear?”

There were scattered ‘yes’s.

“I asked, is that _clear_?”

“Yes, Madam Hooch!” The woman nodded curtly. “Well then, it is time to learn to mount your brooms. Now, to do this stick your hand out over the broom and say ‘up’.” There was a chorus of voices and the brooms on the ground came to life.

Harry’s shot right up into his hand and he closed his fist firmly around it. Draco’s did the same and he smirked triumphantly, though his smile died a bit when he saw that Harry’d gotten his too.

Ron’s, Parvati’s, and Seamus’s took a bit of convincing, but eventually all of their brooms came to them too.

Neville, Dean, and Hermione, on the other hand, were not having such luck. Dean’s was rolling around on the ground and lifting up a bit, but he couldn’t quite get it to listen. Hermione and Neville’s hadn’t moved at all.

Hermione looked close to tears, but Neville and Dean seemed like they’d expected this to happen.

“Well, well, come on,” said Madam Hooch finally. “Just pick it up, then!” She then taught them all how to hold and mount their brooms and the proper way to sit so they wouldn’t simply slide off, which Harry thought was pretty important. Then they were mounting and ready to kick off.

“When I blow my whistle fly up a few feet then come back down,” she instructed. “One, two-” Before she had finished counting Neville’s legs had shook a bit too much and his broom, which was old and confused, had mistaken the movement for a kick. The boy was sent flying up into the air, a scarlet ball falling from his pocket as he did.

The class watched in a mixture of awe and horror as the Gryffindor rose higher and higher and higher- “Ah! Help, I can’t get down!”

Madam Hooch came to her senses first and she was blowing her whistle shrilly, trying to get the boy back. Unfortunately, the loud noise scared Neville so much that he lost his grip on his broom and went tumbling to the ground.

There was a sickening crunch.

“Neville!” Harry cried.

“Are you okay?” Hermione echoed as the friend’s rushed over to him.

Ron looked a little sick. “His wrist’s all bent over. That can’t be good…” Seamus nodded in disterbed agreement. Parvati was fluttering around them, clearly unsure of what to do.

“We should get him to the hospital wing,” Dean said shakily.

“You’re absolutely right, Mr. Thomas.” It was Madam Hooch. She pushed them all aside and picked the boy up off of the ground. He was sniffling and he had pulled his sleeve up over his hand to hide the injury. “Now, I must take Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing at once. While I am gone I expect all of you to remain _on the ground_. If I hear even a single whisper about any of you being in the air I will personally ensure that you are expelled.” Then she was rushing away with Neville.

The now unsupervised students milled around in a state of worried confusion about what to do.

“Poor Neville…” Partavi said as she fiddled with the stick of her broom.

“Yeah, that’s the second time he’s been hurt in two days!” Ron exclaimed.

There was a laugh from the surrounding Slytherins and the Gryffindors whipped around to face them. “It’s not funny!” Hermione exclaimed. “Neville was really hurt!”

“But as Weasley just said,” Draco said nastily. “That’s not exactly uncommon, is it? And he’s so forgetful I’m not surprised he forgot how to hold on. I mean-” he bent down and picked up Neville’s remembrall. It stayed a cloudy grey, signifying that there was nothing that Draco had forgotten. “He can’t even hold this without it turning red.”

“What did Neville do to you?” Seamus demanded.

“Are you defending him, Finnigan?” asked Pansy Parkinson in a high voice. “I’d heard that you already had a soulmate, but maybe you’re into dating a lot of boys at once.” Her friend Blaize Zambini smirked, but Dean’s hands curled into fists.

Harry stepped forward and held his hand out to his soulmate. “Give me the remembrall, Draco.” Malfoy laughed and Harry was angry at himself for liking the way his laugh sounded, especially at a time like this.

“I don’t think so, Potter. In fact, I think I’ll make sure he never sees it again. I mean, it’s not like it helped him any today, did it? I’m practically doing him a favor.” And then he was straddling his broom and taking off.

Unlike Neville and the rest of them, Draco had actually flown a broom before. That much was clear as he rose into the air and circled broadly over the gaping students below him.

Crabbe, Goyle, and the rest of the Slytherins reacted not with glee, but with concern. “Malfoy! Malfoy, come down!” Vincent called to him, glancing at Goyle in concern.

“You’re going to get in trouble,” Greggory added, shielding his eyes as Draco flew across the sun. The eleven year old did not listen.

Harry, filled with fury, made to get on his own broom, but was held back by Ron and Hermione, who had grabbed his arms. “Harry, you can’t! You’ll be expelled!”

“Hermione’s right, mate,” Ron agreed. “Malfoy’s not worth it. And Neville can get a new remembrall, it’s not worth losing everything for.”

But that wasn’t the only reason Harry wanted to fly right now. If Malfoy was caught right now he would be expelled. But if Harry was up there too, he would be expelled with him. Maybe there was another magic school they could go to together. He knew Malfoy despised him, but he hadn’t given up trying to change that and he couldn’t change anything if they weren’t together.

He shook his friends off and got on his broom. Before he could second guess himself he was kicking off the ground and then he was flying. As the ground fell away from him every thought left his head. This was perfect. This was natural. This was _right_.

Something inside him clicked and he knew what to do. In a flash he was souring after Malfoy, his broom responding to his every move. Draco turned and caught sight of Harry and he blinked a few times as though he thought he was seeing things.

“Potter, what are you doing?” he demanded.

“Give me the remembrall, Malfoy! And get back on the ground before we both get expelled!”

The Slytherin scoffed and held up the remembrall in his fist. “If you get expelled that’s your own fault, Potter!” Harry shot towards him and Draco made a rather impressive flip out of the way that had all the students below to gasp in horror.

It was clear that the two houses had united in their mission to get their friends back on the ground. Green and red robes had turned into a mashed combination as they hurried back and forth and Harry realized that the Slytherin and Gryffindor first years meant to catch him and Draco if they fell.

It was at once comforting and concerning as he realized that falling was indeed a strong possibility. The two boys had been floating slowly higher the whole time and they were now quite far above the pitch.

He shook his head to clear it and focused again on his soulmate. Draco was watching him with narrowed eyes, tossing the remembrall from hand to hand without holding on to his broom. Harry let himself take in the way Draco’s blonde hair and blue eyes had turned bright in the sunlight and then he tried a different approach.

Clearly anger wasn’t working. Malfoy knew how to handle anger… but he’d gotten upset every time Harry had tried to be emotional with him.

Harry lowered his voice so the students below them couldn’t hear. “You’re better than this, Draco. I know you are. You’re my soulmate, I know you’re not a bad person.”

The Slytherin’s eyes widened and the remembrall, which had been in mid flight between his hands, turned a dark scarlet and missed his open palm entirely. The boy’s body jerked as he tried to catch the falling object, but he hadn’t been holding on to his broom. Draco’s smug face shattered into surprise and in the next moment Malfoy was falling towards the crowd of people below.

Harry didn’t even take a second to process this before he was leaning forward on his broom and streaking through the air towards his soulmate. The ground and the panicked students were rushing at him along with a streak of red. Harry reached out and snagged the remembrall out of the air right as he reached Draco.

The force of his collision with Malfoy’s body almost knocked the two of them off Harry’s broom, but Harry kept his grip. He didn’t think he would be strong enough to pull both of their weights up and out of the steep dive, but the next thing he knew the broom was hovering still.

They were a foot above the ground.

Harry’s heart pounded painfully in his chest as he finally came back into the present. He looked around to see all of the students around him gaping in shock. Then slowly everyone, Slytherins included, began to clap.

Harry couldn’t help it, he smiled triumphantly. He’d done it! He’d caught the remembrall and saved- Draco! His eye’s shot down to where Malfoy was practically clinging onto him. The blonde’s chest was heaving and he was staring into nothing with an expression of frozen terror on his face.

“Draco?” Harry asked him carefully. “Are you okay?”

The boy came back to himself then and he seemed to realize exactly where he was. “Get off of me!” Draco exclaimed, shoving Harry roughly away from him so both of them tumbled down into the soft grass on opposite sides of the broom. Harry held his hand out to help Draco up, but the Slytherin scrambled back away from him, looking disgusted.

Greggory lifted him to his feet and Vincent stepped forward to shield him from the Gryffindors, who had all turned on Malfoy. “Harry just saved your life, mate!” Seamus exclaimed. “The least you could do is thank him!”

“Ungrateful bastard,” Ron muttered angrily.

“Are you alright, Harry?” Hermione asked.

“I’m fine,” Harry murmured. His eyes were fixed on Draco, who was almost obsessively brushing blades of grass off of his robes in an obvious and inefficient attempt to hide how shaken up he was.

Dean’s eyes found the remembrall in Harry’s hand. “No way, you caught it?” he asked in pure disbelief. Harry looked down and found the orb filled with red.

“I wonder what you forgot,” Ron mused.

“Perhaps that flying unsupervised is punishable with expulsion,” said a voice from behind them. Harry turned and his heart sank into his stomach. Professor McGonagall was standing on the Quidditch pitch looking sterner than he’d ever seen her. “Come with me, Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy.”

Hermione and Ron exchanged terrified looks. “Please, Professor,” Ron started. “He was just trying to stop Malfoy!”

“Silence, Mr. Weasley.”

Crabbe and Goyle were exchanging similar, frightened glances. “But Professor-” tried Greggory. “Malfoy was only-”

“That is enough, Mr. Goyle! That is enough from all of you. I do not want to hear another word out of any of your mouths. Let’s go, Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter.” Harry dragged his feet as he made his way to her and a moment later Draco was standing alongside him. “Follow me.”

The woman turned and started towards the castle, leaving the rest of the first years alone on the pitch. "Well," Harry heard Hermione say as they left, "they did break all of Madam Hooch's rules..."

“This is all your fault,” Draco hissed at him as they walked and Harry didn’t even know what to say so he stayed quiet and hurried along to keep up with McGonagall’s quick steps. Harry had expected to be taken to Dumbledore’s office, so he was surprised to find himself standing, for the second time that day, in front of Quirrell's Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

“Quirrell,” McGonagall said to catch the man’s attention. “May I borrow Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint?” The Professor nodded and continued with his class as two boys came to stand in the hallway with them.

“Is everything alright, Professor McGonagall?” Oliver asked, a little nervously. “If this is about my fight with Flint, I swear he started it!”

“I did not!” Marcus snarled back at him. “You’re just mad you lost, aren’t you?”

McGonagall struggled to repress her smile. “This is not about your fight, though you can both see me in detention on Friday.” Both boys scowled. “It is not about your fight, however, it is about Quidditch. Mr. Wood, I believe you are in need of a new seeker?”

Oliver’s eyes lit up. “You found one, Professor?”

“I found two. I know Slytherin already has a seeker, Mr. Flint, but with the amount of injuries your team manages to procure… I dare say you could one for backup. Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter, this is Mr. Flint and Mr. Wood.”

“Hang on, aren’t they first years?” Flint asked coldly. “First years aren’t allowed, Professor.”

Oliver glared at him. “Shut up, Marcus, Gryffindor doesn’t have a new seeker and we sure as hell could use one. You’ve got a point though, can they even fly, Professor?”

Malfoy looked blatantly insulted but Harry thought that was a fair question. He hadn’t even held a broom before today. “Indeed they can, and I’m sure the year about first years can be bent, Mr. Flint. I caught these two flying about the Quidditch pitch unsupervised today. Mr. Malfoy demonstrated that he could do a perfect flip in the air and fly his broom without the use of his hands and when he fell Mr. Potter managed to catch him a foot from the ground with no injuries and no one falling off.”

Marcus had looked mildly excited until McGonagall finished. “He _fell off?_ ” he asked indignantly. “Are you trying to give Slytherin a bad seeker to help Gryffindor win?”

“And are you trying to make your own house loose too?” added Oliver. “What Harry did was catch another person. That’d make him a better medic or ref in my opinion.”

The teacher sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. It was clear that she was used to dealing with these two. “You four are so similar it’s like I travelled back in time,” she muttered and Harry realized with a start that Marcus and Oliver had matching scars down their forearms. The two Quidditch captains were soulmates. Before he had time to process this McGonagall had continued.

“Draco was affected by outside variables when he fell,” McGonagall said to Marcus before turning back to Oliver. “And Mr. Potter did not only catch Mr. Malfoy. He also caught this.” She held up the remembrall. Harry didn’t remember giving it to her, but he supposed he must have.

Wood stopped short and stared at the shiny gray ball. “You’re saying he managed to catch both of them in one dive and absolutely nothing went wrong?” he demanded in disbelief.

“That is indeed what I am saying, Mr. Wood.”

Oliver turned to Harry then and sized him up. “And it was your first time on a broom?” Harry nodded and the captain looked thrilled. “Gryffindor’s winning this year for sure, Flint.”

“I wouldn’t count on it, Wood,” the Slytherin replied viciously and McGonagall led the two first years away down the hall as the argument bloomed into life behind them.

“They’ve been at each other’s throats since the day they arrived,” the Professor told them, looking towards the sky as if searching for her patience. “As I said, I see the comparison with you two.” Before either of the boys had the chance to argue this, she cut them off. “Now don’t think that this means that what you did was in any way admirable or okay. It was reckless and dangerous and the two of you should have been expelled. However, Slytherin has won the house cup for the past seven years and I believe that Mr. Potter may finally help us stop that.”

Malfoy frowned. “But, Professor, why does Potter get to be on the real team and I have to be backup? I won’t get to play at all!”

“If I recall correctly, Mr. Malfoy,” McGonagall said sternly. “It was Harry who followed you into the air, not the other way around. And don’t forget which one of you fell off your broom. Now, that is all I have to say. If I catch either of you breaking school rules again, I will not be so lenient.”

She handed Harry Neville’s remembrall. “Yes, Professor,” they replied and then she was gone and Harry was alone with Malfoy.

“I can’t believe it,” Harry said. “We didn’t even get in trouble! And we get to play quidditch!”

“ _You_ get to play quidditch,” Malfoy replied in a cold voice. “And did you hear the way she insulted Slytherin? Honestly it’s not our fault we were smart enough to win for seven years in a row.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “I think she said that because she’s head of Gryffindor house, Draco- hey, are you alright?” The boy had pushed up one of his sleeves and was pressing at the skin of his forearm.

“No, I’m not. You slammed into my arm when you crashed into me, scarface. I’m going to get a bruise. You just have to keep making my life worse, don’t you, Potter?”

“That’s going to bruise me too, you know. And look, as much as you don’t want to admit it, I’m the reason you’re not in the hospital wing right now, Draco.” Malfoy’s lip curled back.

“Anything would have been better than the humiliating ordeal of having you catch me.”

Harry shook his head in disbelief. “I don’t understand why you hate me so much. If you could just tell me maybe I could fix it.”

Draco, who had been about to walk away, paused. “Do you really want to find out?” he asked. Harry nodded instantly, hope rising within him. “Then meet me. In a week. At midnight in the trophy room.”

“I’ll be there.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! If you have any questions or just want to say something, please comment, I will try to answer any questions you may have without spoiling too much :). The next chapter should be out in around a month!


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